Railway flat car



Nov. 12, 1968 E. A. ZAMBRUSKI' ET AL RAILWAY FLAT CAR 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 26, 1966 INVENTORS. EDWIN A. ZAMBRU SKI SAMUEL P. HALCOMB ATTORNEY Nov. 12, 1968 E. A. ZAMBRUSKI ETAL 3,410,229

RAILWAY FLAT CAR 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 26, 1966 FIG. 4.

FIG. 3.

Nov. 12, 1968 ZAMBRUSKl ETAL 3,410,229

RAILWAY FLAT CAR 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Sept. 26, 1966 m i W FIG. 5.

FIG. 6. (PRIOR ART) United States Patent C) 3,410,229 RAILWAY FLAT CAR Edwin A. Zambruski and Samuel P. Halcomb, St. Louis County, M0,, assignors to ACF Industries, Incorporated, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Sept. 26, 1966, Ser. No. 582,150 2 Claims. (Cl. 105-419) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An underframe for a railway flat car having a horizontal connector plate extending between opposed crossbearer members through slots in the vertical webs of a center sill structure. The connector plate has tapered portions overlapping adjacent upper cover plates of the crossbearer members and welded to the upper surfaces of the cover plates along the entire length of the lateral edges of the tapered portions for transmitting stresses between the center sill structure and the crossbearer members.

Background and description of the invention Crossbearers for flat cars are normally positioned at intervals between the bolsters of the underframe and comprise an upper generally horizontal flange or top cover plate, a vertical web, and a lower horizontal flange or bottom cover plate. When employed with a box-type center sill structure, the upper cover plate of the crossbearer member has been secured by welding to the cover plate for the box-type center sill structure. Especially when employed with tie-downs secured to a longitudinal channel or the like adjacent the fixed center sill structure, the weld between the top cover plate of the crossbearer and the overhanging portion of the top cover plate for the center sill structure may be subjected to substantial stresses. Heretofore, a relatively small overlapping area between the cover plates of the crossbearer and center sill structure has permitted only a relatively small length of weld along the edges of the crossbearer cover plates to the center sill structure. When relatively large stresses are encountered, it is highly desirable to have a relatively long weld connection between the crossbearer upper cover plates and the center sill structure for transmitting stresses into the center sill structure.

An object of the present invention is to provide a railway fiat car underframe having a novel arrangement for transmitting stresses between the center sill structure and the upper cover plate of a crossbearer member.

Another object of this invention is to provide a crossbearer member having relatively long weld connections to the center sill structure for transmitting stresses between the crossbearer member and the center sill structure.

The invention accordingly comprises the constructions hereinafter described, the scope of the invention being indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which one of several possible embodiments of the invention is illustrated,

FIGURE 1 is a cross section of an underframe of a railway fiat car illustrating a fixed center sill structure and a crossbearer member secured thereto;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan of a portion of the underfrarne shown in FIGURE 1 illustrating a crossbearer structure which is positioned between the bolsters of the underframe;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged cross section of the center sill structure illustrating the connections of the adjacent crossbearer members thereto;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged top plan illustrating the 3,410,229 Patented Nov. 12, 1968 connector plate securing the crossbearer members to the center sill structure;

FIGURE 5 is a section taken generally along line 5-5 of FIGURE 4 and illustrating the vertical transverse web or filler extending between the spaced vertical webs of the center sill structure; and

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged cross section of a prior art crossbearer connection to the center sill structure.

Corresponding reference characters illustrate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the draw ings.

Referring now to the drawings for a better understanding of this invention, an underframe for a railway fiat car is illustrated generally at 10 and includes a fixed center sill structure indicated generally 12. A crossbearer structure includes a crossbearer member 14 on each side of center sill structure 12. Stringers 16 extend longitudinally of underframe 10 in generally parallel relation to the center sill structure 12. A side sill 18 extends along each side of the underframe. A suitable deck indicated at 20 in broken lines may be secured over stringers 16 and may comprise a plurality of wooden deck members or a steel deck.

Center sill structure 12 comprises a pair of vertical webs 22, a lower cover plate 24, and an upper cover plate 26 secured to each other by welding to form a box-shaped section. Upper cover plate 26 has overhanging marginal edge portions 28 extending outwardly from the subjacent vertical webs 22.

Each crossbearer member 14 includes a vertical Web 30, a lower cover plate 32, and an upper cover plate 34 secured to each other by welding. Vertical web 30 and lower cover plate 32 are secured by welding to the adjacent side sill 18 and to the adjacent vertical web 22. The upper cover plate 34 of each crossbearer member 14 is secured by welding to the adjacent side sill 18 and has an inner edge 36 adjacent vertical web 22 which is spaced slightly from the adjacent outer surface of vertical web 22 As shown in FIGURE 5, a transverse filler or cross web 38 is secured between the spaced vertical webs 22 within the box-shaped center sill structure 12. Filler 38 is generally of an inverted T-shape in cross section and includes a vertical web 40 and a lower horizontal flange 42.

To secure the upper cover plates 34 of the crossbearer members 14 to the center sill structure 12 for transmitting stresses and loads therebetween, a generally horizontal connector plate 46 extends through slots 48 in the vertical webs 22 and overlaps the adjacent upper cover plates 34 of the crossbearer members. Connector plate 46 is welded along weld seams 50 to web 40 as shown in FIGURE 5. As illustrated in FIGURE 4, connector plate 46 has tapered end portions 52 overlapping upper cover plates 34 and is Welded along weld seams 54 to upper cover plate 34. Weld seams 54 are of a substantial length and extend along substantially the entire overlapping end portlons 52 to the adjacent stringers 16. Thus, relatively strong weld connections are provided between connector plate 46 and upper cover plates 34 for securing in stress transmitting relation upper cover plate 34 to center sill structure 12. Welds 50 also extend along substantially the entire upper edge of filler 38 to provide a strong weld to center sill structure 12.

As shown in FIGURE 6, an example of a prior art arrangement is illustrated which Was employed before the present invention. An upper crossbearer cover plate C was bent upwardly at D and formed an upper flange F extending beneath an overhanging marginal edge portion P of the upper cover plate of the center sill. The welds securing the upper flange F to the center sill structure were limited in lengthas only a relatively small 3 overlapping portion was provided between the center sill structure and the upper cover plate C. Thus, under some conditions of continued usage in which unusually large stresses were transmitted between the crossbearer member and the center sill structure, such as tension stresses from tie-down members, there was a tendency for the welds to fail.

When employing a tie-down anchor channel as indicated at 56 in FIGURES 1 and 3 for securing tie-down members, a substantial tensile stress can be applied from the tie-down members upon substantial impact forces being exerted against the fiat car. As shown in FIGURE 1, channel 56 for receiving the tie-down member is secured to a base 58, in turn welded to the upper surface of connector plate 46. Thus, any large stresses from anchor channel 56 are transmitted to connector plate 46.

From the foregoing, it is understood that the present invention provides a strong connection between a fixed center sill structure and the crossbearer members of a railway flat car. This connection is arranged by extending a connector plate 46 through slots 48 in the spaced vertical webs 22 and across a transverse filler 38 of a center sill structure. Connector plate 46 overlaps the adjacent upper cover plates 34 of the crossbearer members 14 for a substantial distance to provide a relatively large area for welding upper cover plates 34 to connector plate 46. Thus, substantial stresses may be transmitted between the crossbearer members 14 and center sill structure 12. This arrangement eliminates any welds between the crossbearer upper cover plates and the adjacent vertical web of the center sill structure.

In view of the above, it will be seen that the several objects of the invention are achieved and other advantageous results obtained.

As various changes could be made in the above constructions without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. In an underframe for a railway fiat car, a generally box-shaped fixed center sill structure extending generally the length of the underframe and including a pair of spaced vertical longitudinal webs and an integral upper horizontal cover plate, a crossbearer structure extending transversely of the underframe including a crossbearer member having an upper horizontal cover plate adjacent and outwardly of each vertical web of the center sill structure, a vertical transverse filler web within the boxshaped sill structure extending between and secured to the spaced vertical webs adjacent the crossbearer structure, a generally horizontal slot in each longitudinal web adjacent the upper edge of the transverse web, and a horizontal connector plate extending over the upper edge of the transverse web through the slots in the vertical webs of the center sill structure and having portions overlapping the adjacent upper cover plates of the crossbearer members, said overlapping portions of the connector plate being tapered and of a smaller width than the width of the subjacent cover plates of the crossbearer members, said connector plate being welded to the upper surfaces of the crossbearer cover plates along the lateral edges of the tapered overlapping portions for the entire length thereof and being welded to said vertical filler web along its entire upper edge thereby to transmit stresses between the center sil-l structure and the crossbearer structure.

2. In an underframe for a railway fiat car as set forth in claim 1, means secured to the upper surface of the overlapping portions to secure a tie-down member adjacent each vertical longitudinal web.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 836,133 11/1906 Ostrader 105419 1,264,884 5/1918 Becker 105-419 2,652,006 9/1953 Simonson 105419 3,238,899 3/1966 Gutridge et al. 105-419 ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner.

R. A. BERTSCH, Assistant Examiner. 

